This invention relates to devices used for cutting drywall, plasterboard, wallboard, or other similar materials. Particularly, material such as gypsum wallboard which is relatively stiff, as supplied, usually in sections from four feet wide, one to sixteen feet long and 1/4 to 3/4" thick. Such wallboard sheets typically have paper surfaces on each face thereof enclosing the composition of the drywall between the faces.
It is often necessary to cut sheets of this type into narrower sections for use in building construction. Heretofore, the more common practice in carrying out this operation has been to mark the boards using rulers, squares, and chalk lines. It involves marking at several points down from the edge of the sheet, making a straight line along the material from marked point to marked point and then scoring the material along the line on one side of the drywall. Then, the desired panel is partially broken loose following which the panel is separated from the remainder of the sheet by scoring the opposite side along the crease which is formed opposite the first score line. The task requires using several tools consecutively. The tools must be kept in hand and delays can be encounter, when one of several is missing or lost. Such practice is time consuming and inefficient and also frequently results in an uneven edge line on the desired portion of the drywall that is to be mounted on the wall or ceiling.